Chiropractor: The audit concerned an alleged underreporting of income by a professional’s workman’s compensation claim.

Insurance agency: The case involved an audit of the damage claim in a suit related to reported commissions and breach of contract.

Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia: The project consisted of the enhancement of internal controls subsequent to the theft of cash by employees of the bank.

A national bank: The project consisted of the enhancement of internal controls subsequent to embezzlement by employees.

Construction company: The case involved the proof of and amount of employee embezzlement.

Local church: The project consisted of the review and enhancement of internal controls over cash, cash receipts, and cash disbursements of the church, worship, school, and day care center activities.

Insurance company: A nationally known insurance company regularly involves us in the assessment of claims of lost income. We are involved in approximately five of six such cases a year.

Building supply company: The case involved the proof of and amount of employee embezzlement. The employees in question were prior owners.

Manufacturing company: This case involved a long time trusted bookkeeper who embezzled money over a four year period through fictitious payroll transactions.

Modular home manufacturer: This case involved the alleged fraudulent production of financial statements in connection with the sale of a significant, although minority, interest in the company. The case also included a counter suit involving an estimate of lost profits and breach of an officer’s fiduciary responsibilities.

Clothing manufacturer: The case involved a claim for lost profits resulting from a power outage that took a day to restore. The somewhat unusual facts and circumstances lead to a question of whether or not there was, indeed, any loss.

Bank: This case involved an effort to assess the presence and degree of negligence on the part of a bank commercial customer that had kited checks and defrauded the bank of more than $1 million.

Labor union: This case involved a damage claim filed by a labor union that alleged that its former legal counsel has breached their fiduciary responsibilities, resulting in decreased union membership and lost income.

Electro-powder coating business: This case involved the assessment and recommendation of improvements to the internal control system for a manufacturing company wherein top management believed that there was reason to question the motives of some of its accounting personnel.

Truck rental company: We assisted this international truck rental business to challenge the statistical sampling techniques used by state revenue auditors and our findings resulted in reduction of the original road use tax assessment from almost one million dollars to a very small fraction thereof.

Utility company: We assisted this large regional electric utility company in successfully reducing the state’s assessment of taxes based upon the state auditors’ sampling techniques.

Trucking company: This case involved doing an independent statistically valid estimate of the underpayment of road use taxes in a challenge of an assessment made by state revenue auditors.

Automobile dealership: This case involved a claim for lost profits by a dealership that was forced to be closed for several days during a planned holiday sale because of a diesel fuel leak on the sales lot.

Automobile repair business: This case involved the assessment of a claim for lost profits as a result of the owner becoming injured while at work. Our findings resulted in a low settlement and the avoidance of the arbitration process.

Excavation and hauling company: This was an internal control review and investigation requested by the owners of the business. They were suspicious of fraud and/or negligent failure to record sales. Our report accounted for the owners’ investments but also identified widespread significant control deficiencies.

Airline personnel training business: The company claimed a significant loss of income and profits because of a workmen’s compensation injury to the president and CEO. We were able to determine that there was no loss of income and, in fact, that profits had increased.

Start up brokerage firm: The firm claimed that their inability to timely pay approximately half a million dollars in trust fund payroll taxes resulted from an admitted defalcation by the former chief operating officer. We were engaged to determine, with a reasonable degree of certainty, the total amount of the defalcation. Current management felt that the amount might be as much as three times the amount confessed to and repaid.

Family owned antique business: A second generation family member had inherited their interest in the business. The business had been on the decline for many years. A first generation member of the family acquired a 100% interest on what appeared to be fair term with virtually no gain or loss to other members. The business was then liquidated at a public auction with very significant gains. We were asked to consult in an alleged fraud claim by the second generation owner.

Investment loss: A person alleging that they were given incorrect income tax advice, claimed that proper advice would have avoided loss of the investment and related costs. Our project was to compute the present value of a lump sum that would restore the investment to where it would reasonably have grown at the time of mandatory distributions being required.

Receivable/payable dispute: A business believed that a vendor owed to the business a credit of about $100,000 for overpayments. The vendor claimed that the business owed past due amounts of about $400,000. The plaintiff’s attorney engaged us to audit the account from inception to present (a period of about five years) in order to determine the correct amount receivable or payable.

Trucking company: An owner operator, who owned two trucks and engaged a subcontractor to operate the second vehicle, was injured in an accident caused by another person. The owner operator was unable to return to work and we were asked to calculate lost profits and to assess loss mitigation issues.

Printing business: This project involved the testing of assumptions and calculations involved in a business interruption claim.

Truck rental business: A relatively small truck rental business specialized in special purpose vehicles. One of the vehicles was damaged in an accident caused by another person, and lost profits were claimed. We were asked to calculate lost profits and to assess loss mitigation issues.

Workman’s compensation: A person was injured in performing his job of furniture delivery. After some rehabilitation, he was assigned a “desk” job that required little or no physical stamina. He was later laid off due to lack of work. The project involved differentiating the loss of income due to the physical injury versus the lay off due to lack of business.
Horse training and grooming business: This was a lost profits case, based on injuries sustained in an accident unrelated to the business. The apparent question was whether there were any loss profits, with recent years’ financial statements showing recurring operating losses. Losses claimed were about ten times the amounts that we believed were able to be supported by the business’ records.

Hotel embezzlement: Hotel filed a claim on their employee dishonesty bond, claiming a loss by theft by a front desk clerk. The insurance carrier engaged us to evaluate the evidence presented, to determine if the loss was greater or less, and to assess any other likely causes for the loss.

Manufacturer’s representative/wholesaler: The small closely held company with a very small staff supplied specialized products to major retailers. The company filed a claim on their employee dishonesty bond, claiming a loss by theft by their bookkeeper, receptionist, secretary (all the same person). The insurance carrier engaged us to evaluate the evidence presented, to determine if the loss was greater or less, and to assess any other likely causes for the loss.

Disallowed 401 (k) investment: A person had been advised by a financial planner that a particular type of investment was allowed in the 401 (k) (the plan) and that advice was not correct. The planner, once the error was detected, was alleged to have planned a cover up. The incident was reveal by an IRS audit. We assisted the taxpayer’s legal counsel in determining the client’s financial loss.

Home remodeling business: This small closely held business was owned by persons who viewed their bookkeeping and accounting function as a necessary evil that they chose not to be involved in. They found and hired a bookkeeper who would “take care of everything” including year end corporate tax returns traditionally done by the company’s outside CPA firm, eliminating that fee as well. The owners stumbled onto the bookkeeper’s embezzlement and we were engaged to determine the methods and amounts of the loss.

United States foreign products sales and distribution: This was a claim of lost income due to a breach of contract dispute. The dispute involved two American subsidiaries of two separate foreign based (member states of the Soviet Union) corporations and included a period of loss that began before and ended after the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

Business acquisition breach on contract: This was a claim by the new owners of a corporation that the prior owners had falsified financial statements and other representations to inflate the purchase price of the company. We were engaged to audit the claims of damages and to determine the impact of the damages on the original purchase price.

Economic discrimination: A supplier of services to an airport authority and airlines serving the airport claimed that, in violation of federal regulations, the airport authority had awarded the contract to a new supplier and denied a renewal to the plaintiff. The original claims amounted to more than $42 million dollars. We were engaged by the airport authority to assist in the critique of the amounts claimed. After the filing of our report the plaintiffs settled the case for $45 thousand dollars, many years after the case was originally filed.

Oppressed business owner: Four different businesses entered into a joint venture. Within a year of the formation of the venture one of the members was expelled and was claiming that the expulsion was unwarranted and in violation of the operating agreements. We were asked to assess the amount of lost income and lost investment value, assuming that the oppressed shareholder was correct in his assertions.

Auto repair business: The 50% owner of the business, an “S Corporation” was injured in an automobile accident and was suing, claiming that his injuries had decreased his ability to work in his business and decreased the profitability of his business. We were able to demonstrate that he was not deriving any wages from the business before or after the accident, that he was receiving a pension from the business before and after the accident, and that his share of corporate profits and profit distributions in the years before and after the accident were virtually unchanged.

Estate administration: Several heirs of an estate asked us to determine if there were any financial/accounting irregularities on the part of another heir, in her role as power of attorney for several years prior to the death. The issue to be addressed was if any possible losses were due to poor judgment or intentional inappropriate actions.

Trust administration: The sole surviving relative of a person confined to a mental hospital was concerned that the law firm serving as the trustee of the hospitalized relative’s property might be mishandling the finances. We were asked to analyze ten years’ financial transactions and to identify those which we deemed questionable.

Embezzlement by business partners: The 50% owner of an “S Corporation” believed that the two other owners, each owning a 25% interest, had embezzled in excess of $900,000 over a period of about three years. The 50% owner had always confined his involvement to field operations and became suspicious when he stumbled upon a significant business line of credit that he was previously unaware of. We were engaged to investigate his suspicions.

Manufacturing company with a multi-year trend of decreasing profits: We were asked to do a general assessment of the company’s management and operations. Part of our work involved an analysis of historic financial statements, some prepared internally and some prepared by the company’s outside accounting firm. We applied some analytical tools designed to detect fraudulent financial reporting and the analysis revealed several significant anomalies.

Janitorial services and business interruption: A person who was injured in an automobile accident claimed lost income for a limited time because of an inability to run and work in his janitorial services business.

Equine massage therapy business: A person who was injured in an automobile accident claimed lost income for about a six month period because of a reduced ability to manage and run their equine massage business.

Information technology services business: This engagement was to do financial due diligence for the intended buyer of an information technology services business. Numerous significant items were found that would apparently impact the value of the business.

Injured farmer: A farmer who was injured by the malfunction of a piece of equipment needed to have a calculation of the income lost due to his inability to continue his farming business.

Improper financial planning advice: An elderly person had been advised by a financial planner to significantly modify their investment portfolio. That advice was deemed grossly inappropriate. This engagement dealt with calculating a reasonable estimate of the elderly person’s economic loss.

Embezzlement by a bookkeeper: This engagement involved an evaluation of the evidence provided to support a claim of embezzlement by a bookkeeper at a business that wholesaled fishing and hunting supplies. The embezzlement was in the form of forged checks and fraudulent disbursements.

Embezzlement by a hotel desk clerk: This engagement involved an evaluation of the evidence provided to support a claim of embezzlement by a night shift hotel desk clerk. The embezzlement was in the form of taking from daily cash receipts.

Embezzlement by a convenience store clerk: This engagement involved an evaluation of the evidence provided to support a claim of embezzlement by one of several convenience store clerks. For the most part, the embezzlement involved unrecorded sales and sales recorded at incorrect amounts.

Highway construction company: This engagement involved a claim of lost profits due to the alleged breach of contract by a quarrying business that supplied the highway construction subcontractor. We were asked to critique both the plaintiff’s calculations and the issue as to whether there was any loss at all.

Purchase of a construction company and alleged misrepresentations: This engagement involved analyzing the damages claimed to result from misrepresentations by the seller of the business and opining as to how some or all of such misrepresentation might have impacted the value of the business.